NiSource and Columbia Energy Group filed their mergerapplication with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commissionyesterday. Pittsburgh-based Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania, Inc., aColumbia subsidiary, provides retail gas service to 389,000customers in 27 counties. Pennsylvania is the first state to beasked to approve the merger, which was announced Feb. 28 and isexpected to close by the end of 2000 (see Daily GPI, Feb. 29). Thecombined company will serve more than 4.1 million customersprimarily located in nine states. Its operations will span thehigh-growth energy corridor stretching from the Gulf of Mexico toNew England, creating the largest natural gas distributor east ofthe Rocky Mountains. The companies said the proposed merger willhave no impact on Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania’s rates, terms andconditions now approved by the Commission. However, customers areexpected to benefit from the increased electric competition fromgas-fueled distributed generation, as well as potential gas costsavings gained through the efficient use of the combined upstreampipeline and storage assets of the new company.

In a very terse order, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commissiondenied producers’ bid to stay the waiver of price caps onshort-term capacity release transactions in time for the scheduledlifting of the price ceiling to take effect last weekend. Theexperimental waiver – which removes the price caps on short-termrelease transportation deals (less than one year) for the next twoand a half years – went into effect last Sunday (March 26), despitean attempt by the Independent Petroleum Association of America(IPAA) and Indicated Shippers to block it until Order 637 underwentfull rehearing at FERC. The Commission’s decision to lift the priceceiling was the cornerstone of its massive, ground-breaking Order637, which was issued in February. This made the producers’ requestfor the stay a very tall order.

Canada’s National Energy Board (NEB) will hold a public hearingon an application from AEC Suffield Gas Pipeline Inc. (AECSuffield) to construct and operate a gas pipeline from southeasternAlberta to southwestern Saskatchewan to be known as the NorthSuffield Pipeline. The hearing will begins at 9 a.m. June 26 in theboard’s hearing room, second floor, 444 Seventh Ave. SW, Calgary,Alberta. Any person wishing to intervene in the hearing must filean intervention by May 4. AEC Suffield applied to construct 60miles of 16-inch pipeline and associated control facilities. Thepipeline would begin on the western side of the Suffield MilitaryBlock, extend along the northern boundary of the Suffield MilitaryBlock and then extend east and south to tie-in to the existing AECSuffield meter station, which connects to TransCanada PipelineLtd.’s system near Burstall, Saskatchewan. The pipeline will havecapacity of about 190 MMcf/d. The estimated capital cost of theproject is $22.3 million. AEC Suffield is planning an in-servicedate of Nov. 1.

Enron Energy signed an agreement to be an equity partner andofficial energy sponsor of indoor snowboarding venue The Glacier ofAnaheim, CA. The multi-million dollar deal includes engineering andconstruction of the facility’s mechanical, electrical, and plumbinginfrastructure and a guaranty of its performance. In addition todesigning, engineering, and constructing the overall system, EnronEnergy will operate and maintain the Glacier’s central plant andsnowmaking system. The facility houses many separate climatecontrolled zones. The snowboarding area is maintained at a constant30-degree temperature with low humidity. This environment iscritical to maintaining quality snow conditions. Enron also signeda $1 million Official Energy Sponsorship with the Glacier project.The $130 million project will be adjacent to Edison InternationalField of Anaheim, just a few blocks from the Arrowhead Pond ofAnaheim and Disneyland Park.

Lukens Consulting Group Inc. of Houston signed a licensing andconsulting services agreement with Dominion Services Co., Inc.Under the terms of the agreement Dominion will license the StorageValuation Advisor software product from Lukens, and Lukens willprovide Dominion with consulting services related to theimplementation and customization of the software. The StorageValuation Advisor is an integrated suite of analytical tools thatenables buyers and sellers of storage services to estimate thefuture value of storage based on the shape of the forward curve andvolatility of cash and futures market prices. It is based on realoption theory, and incorporates much of the latest thinking oneconometric modeling energy commodity markets.

Southern Company said it has sold an additional 125 MW ofwholesale power in the Southeast. Southern Wholesale Energy, themarketing and trading arm representing Southern Company’sgenerating plants in the region, recently signed a long-termcontract for peaking power with North Carolina Municipal PowerAgency No. 1 (NCMPA1). Power to supply the NCMPA1 contract will begenerated from existing wholesale plant capacity that is owned andoperated by Georgia Power, Southern Company’s electric utilitysubsidiary in Georgia. Because this power will serve the wholesalemarket, the new contract will not affect electric rates paid byGeorgia Power customers. NCMPA1, made up of 19 municipal electricsystems in western North Carolina, notified Duke Power in Januarythat it would no longer purchase supplemental energy and capacityfrom the company beginning Jan. 1.

TXU of Dallas agreed to sell its majority interest in a MexicoCity gas distribution system to Gas Natural and Hidroelectrica delCantabrico for $68 million. Gas Natural will become operator whenthe deal closes, which is expected later this year.

Mitchell Energy & Development Corp. said its proved NGLreserves grew to a record 178 million barrels Jan. 31, up 39million barrels, or 28%, from the prior year. The Woodlands,TX-based producer said 40% of this increase was attributed toexpanded drilling activities. Another 35% came from the October1999 Jameson plant acquisition. The remainder was due primarily toimproved processing margins.

Exxon Mobil satisfied another condition required by the FederalTrade Commission in its approval of the merger of the two companiesby selling Mobil Alaska Pipeline’s 3% interest in the Trans AlaskaPipeline System to a unit of The Williams Companies, Inc. Terms ofthe sale were not disclosed. ExxonMobil Pipeline will retain its20% interest in the 800-mile pipeline system, which transports onemillion barrels per day of crude oil from Prudhoe Bay on thestate’s North Slope to the Port of Valdez in the south. The stakeadds to Williams’ presence in Alaska, which currently includes apetroleum refinery in North Pole that receives crude oil from theTrans Alaska Pipeline System, a distribution terminal at the Portof Anchorage, 28 retail petroleum convenience stores and aninterest in an air cargo transfer facility at AnchorageInternational Airport.

Using e commerce technology provided by a Unitil Corp.subsidiary, the New York City Housing Authority will now purchaseits gas through online auctions. The agreement between the housingauthority and Unitil Resources was announced last week in concertwith an initial auction of 6 Bcf. While some online platformsoperate by having customers select a bid that best suits theirneeds, the Unitil service, called the Usource Internet energyprocurement system, allows the customer to set their needs as thecontract terms, and then the suppliers bid on those terms. UsingUsource, the housing authority will be able to sift through bidsfrom over 50 pre-qualified suppliers in a live online marketplace.The technology platform and services are provided byEnermetrix.com. Scana’s online platform also uses the same auctionsystem.

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